Work Text:
"Ishiro? Are you ready yet? It's time to go." There was a knock on the door.
Ishiro jumped at the sudden noise. "I'm not ready yet!"
The door opened, much to his dislike. He quickly tried to hide as much of himself that he could. Only his back was visible as Taiya entered the room.
"You're taking forever. I gave you new clothes. Do they not fit?" Taiya eyed him up.
"They're fine... please leave me in peace." Ishiro replied quietly.
Taiya pursed his lips and walked over, forcing Ishiro to turn around. "Why?"
Ishiro shied away, but to no avail. The thing he had been hiding was out in the open and Taiya had just seen it from the look on his face.
"Ishiro...?" Taiya brought one of his arms up into view.
Numerous cuts littered the lower half of his forearm. Ishiro tried to pull away, but Taiya's grip was too strong.
"You've..." Taiya traced a finger over the scars.
"Let me go..." Ishiro pleaded, his voice sounding weak.
"It's okay..." Taiya met his gaze now.
"No it isn't."
"It is. You don't need to do this anymore." Taiya said.
"What do you know?" Ishiro mumbled.
"You'll defy the odds."
Ishiro blinked at him. Taiya smiled and then rolled up his sleeve to reveal a similar sight, his more healed.
"I swear it gets better."
"You've... also done that?" Ishiro asked.
Taiya nodded. "I won't lie, I was down in a dark place for a lot of my life too. And then I learned to face it and take control of what I feared the most that drove me to this in the first place."
"I..." Ishiro bit his lip, tears trying to fall from his eyes.
"It's us against the world now." Taiya said. "Even if no one else wants to listen to our cries, we'll save ourselves, right? We won't let the pressure of fitting in bury us."
Ishiro hesitantly gave a nod. He moved forward and hugged Taiya. Taiya returned the hug.
"I promise it'll be better now." Taiya said.
"But... how do you stop the past from haunting you?" Ishiro whispered.
"I've faced it. I wouldn't change anything about what I went through. I know it's not coming back. I won't be missing it."
"I... don't know how I can do that..."
"You'll get there." Taiya reassured him. "It takes a while, but eventually you'll learn to look back and think about how far you've come."
"Promise?"
"I promise."
Ishiro hesitantly pulled back from the hug. He averted his gaze to the floor. He wiped away the tears stinging at the corner of his eyes, thankful to find no more trying to come out.
"I promise it'll be okay. We'll find a place in this world together." Taiya said.
Ishiro nodded.
"Are you ready to go then? We're going to be late."
Ishiro quickly threw on the rest of the outfit Taiya had provided him and then nodded. They walked out of the house and went off to the event.
"Taiya?" Ishiro said quietly.
"Yeah?"
"Thank you for... giving me a chance."
"Anything for you, Casshiro."
"Eh?"
Taiya flashed him a smile. "What? I like the nickname."
"Just... don't call me that around anyone else..."